Entitlement

I was going to get up and start with a song, and then I thought, no, I know Jono's voice is much better than mine.

So I'd rather just say, who here has seen the greatest showman?

Show of hands.

Pretty much most of us.

It's an absolute cracker movie, and Hugh Jackman plays the part of PT.

Barnum, and it's the beginnings of the modern circus, and one of the great musical hits of the show, which is where I was going to start with.

But when I was rehearsing this message, my daughter looked at me and went, no.

All right.

It was never enough.

Never, never.

Yep.

So, no.

It just wouldn't work.

But it was the first song that came to mind.

So when Jono asked, he said, yeah, would you like to do part of this series?

And I said, oh, I'm drawn towards entitlement.

It's just where I immediately went, and I'm not sure if that reflects me or not, but it was just like, wow, entitlement.

And it was, as soon as I thought it, it was never enough.

Because when it comes to entitlement, well, there's never enough.

I deserve.

I should have.

Or maybe it's slightly different.

Why me?

Why is this happening to me?

Have you ever had any of those types of thoughts?

I deserve better pay.

I reckon I do.

Or if you're still at school or uni, I deserve better marks, a bigger house, a newer car.

Or I should be given more respect.

I shouldn't have someone press their wipers in front of me.

I should have more credits.

People should recognise me for who I am.

Or maybe it's a slightly different tack.

Instead of I deserve or I should have, why me?

Why did this happen to me?

Why do I suffer?

The Bible, it's filled with stories, and we go right back to the very start of Genesis, and there's entitlement.

Adam and Eve, entitled to the tree of life.

And then as you work through, there's multiple stories of entitlement about Cain and Abel, Esau and Jacob, and you can keep going.

And the nation of Israel itself often has a sense of entitlement.

But one of the stories that jumped out to me was actually in the New Testament.

And it's the request of James and John in Mark 10.

So Mark 10, 35 to 40.

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him.

Teacher, they said, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.

What do you want me to do for you, he said.

They replied, let one of us sit at your right hand, and the other at your left in your glory.

You don't know what you were asking, Jesus said.

Can you drink the cup that I drink, or be baptized with the baptism I'm baptized with?

But to sit at my left and my right is not for me to grant.

These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared.

The audacity, right?

To walk up to Jesus and say, can we sit at your left and right?

In the other version, it's the mum that does it.

Just following this verse, unsurprisingly, the other ten disciples become just a little bit indignant.

But Jesus, just reflecting on what Danny was sharing before in anger, he said, Jesus didn't actually respond in anger.

I think I probably would have.

Who do you think you are asking for that?

But rather than that, he didn't rebuke or put James and John in their place.

Rather, he used this opportunity to teach.

There are two ways in this life.

First, there's the worldly way where rulers and those in authority lauded over those who serve and the way of God.

The worldly way, it's an attitude of, I deserve.

And if I deserve, the reverse is true, because, hey, I deserve, and so, you don't.

That's the flip.

If I'm living in entitlement, it means, I deserve it, sorry, you don't.

It's an attitude of entitlement, and its sibling is judgment.

Because if I'm entitled, it means I'm judging that I deserve, you don't.

It's an attitude of entitlement, its sibling is judgment.

It's a focus on I or me.

Entitlement's about my rights, my power, my beliefs, my opinions, and with it, the implication, well, they're more important than your beliefs, your opinions, or your power, or your authority.

If on the one side of the coin is entitlement, the other is judgment.

For me to have, well, you must go without.

This is the way of the world.

It's a worldly driven expectation, the survival of the fittest.

I lead, you serve.

I want to emphasize that the worldview we're talking about, the worldly way, is still an act of submission.

Right?

When you hear people say, oh, I don't want to submit to God.

Well, hang on, you're still submitting.

But you're submitting to the authority that's in power at the time.

That who, whoever has enough might or enough influence or enough strength to be the one in power.

There is still an act of submission.

We must submit to the rulers and authorities and those with the strength to be there.

There's still a judge.

There is still an authority.

But this world view is submission to those in power.

Then, there's the other way, the way of God.

The upside down way.

Whoever wants to become great must be the least.

Who wants to be first must be last.

It's like, what?

How does that work?

How is that?

It just doesn't make sense.

So, a favourite passage of mine is actually in John 10.45.

It's just following when James and John have asked to sit left to the right.

So, Mark 10.45.

For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, to give his life as a ransom for many.

The way of the world is focused on self.

It's a pursuit to be served.

That I rule it over others.

Or at least I hold the desire to.

So, I may not be in a position of power yet, but the way of the world is I want to be in a position of power.

But Jesus introduces another way.

The way of the kingdom, which is focused on community and how to serve others.

Instead of an attitude of entitlement, it's an attitude of humility.

Instead of an attitude of I, it's an attitude of us.

An attitude of we, not me.

This series, The Grace to Overcome, seeks us to recognise the many ways of the world that lead us astray.

Yet God provides his grace to overcome.

Amen.

When it comes to entitlement, for me the passage that sort of captured the essence of this was in James 4, 1 to 12.

What causes fights and quarrels among you?

Don't they come from the desires that battle within you?

You desire, but do not have, so you kill.

You covet, but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight.

You do not have because you do not ask God, and when you ask, you do not receive because you ask with the wrong motives.

That you spend what you get on your pleasures.

You adulterous people.

Don't you know that friendship with God, with the world, means enmity against God?

When you ask, you do not receive.

Therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world, becomes an enemy of God.

Or do you think that scripture says, without reason, that he jealously longs for the spirit he has caused to dwell in us.

But he gives us more grace.

That is why scripture says, God opposes the proud, but shows favour to the humble.

Submit yourselves into God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Come near to God, and he will come near to you.

Wash your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.

Grieve, mourn, and wail.

Change your laughter to mourning and your joy to gloom.

Humble yourselves before God, and he will lift you up.

Brothers and sisters, do not slander one another.

Anyone who speaks against a brother or sister, or judges them, is against the law and judges it.

When you judge the law, you are not keeping it, but sitting on it.

And there is only one law giver, and judge the one who is able to save and destroy.

So who are you that you judge your neighbour?

So that verse, that series of scripture, it starts with the ways of the world.

In James 4.1, fights and quarrels, they lead to division.

James 4.2, pursuit of my desires and what I covet.

A yearning for more, never enough.

James 4.3-4, our own personal pleasure, a focus on me or I.

Then in James 4.4, therefore, anyone who chooses to be a friend of the world becomes an enemy of God.

There's strong words, it's a strong warning.

You cannot serve two masters.

But then in verse 6, but he gives more grace.

Hallelujah, thank God for grace.

I know where I'd be without it.

So if the way of the world is entitlement, self-seeking, self-serving, what are we to do?

How does his grace overcome?

So James 4.7, submit yourselves to God.

4.8, come near to God and he will come near to you.

4.10, humble yourselves before the Lord and he will lift you up.

While the disciples James and John sought to elevate themselves in a worldly way, they pursued earthly desires and coveted a position of power, Jesus modeled what we are to do.

How to live in grace or how to live our lives in an acknowledgment of God's grace.

We are called to remain humble, not to be served, but to seek to serve.

So bring it to a close, and I love to call it the doggie bags.

All right, what's the take away?

God's grace is sufficient to overcome entitlement, and the tools of his grace that are, number one, the right focus, worship.

Keep focused on God.

Read the scripture daily, pray daily.

We had a life hub the other day, and it's our father, not my father, who art in heaven.

Give us this day.

It's every day.

Pray daily, pray without ceasing.

If we have the right attitude of worship, it naturally positions us.

So number one is worship.

Number two, community.

We're built for us and we, not me or I.

Just like pride, entitlement is really hard to see.

So are your prayers more about I and me, or more about we and us?

It's about shifting our focus that we're no longer just focused on number one, but a number one community that we are all created by God.

Number three, remain humble, humility.

Seek to serve, not to be served.

It's not about me, but about we.

As long as we focus on God, we'll be in the right position, the right posture, acknowledging He's grace to overcome.

Submit yourselves then to God, resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Come near to God, and he will come near to you.

Amen?

Let's pray.

As the band comes back up.

So Lord, I just thank you for this opportunity to share, Lord.

I just thank you that we get to sit under your grace, that we get to spend time in your Word, and I just ask, Lord, that anyone who is walking from here today and feeling burdened by anger or entitlement, that your grace is enough, that we just absolutely focus on you and recognise what a blessing it is to be under your power, under your submission.

Amen.

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